JAL shares drop below offer price as island row bites

Shares in Japan Airlines slumped 4.29 percent by close on Friday, two days after relisting, after the company said it would slash flights to China amid a territorial row between Tokyo and Beijing.

The stock closed at 3,680 yen, below the 3,790 opening price when it returned to the Tokyo Stock Exchange on Wednesday, less than three years after becoming one of Japan's biggest ever corporate failures.

The close was off an intra-day low of 3,630 yen, reached moments before the final bell.

The fall came as JAL, which has undergone a transformation since bankruptcy, announced it would cut the number of flights to China next month to reflect a fall in demand from tourists in both countries.

Tokyo and Beijing have become embroiled in a tussle over a group of East China Sea islands that has led to widespread anti-Japan protests across China and several big-name Japanese firms suspending manufacturing or shutting shops.

For an initial 18 days from October 10, the current two daily flights between Tokyo and Beijing will be cut to one, while the three Tokyo-Shanghai flights a day will drop to two.

Two daily flights between western Japan's Osaka and Shanghai will also drop to one in the same period.

The company said it was yet to decide what would happen from October 28.

JAL said 12,000 seats -- 6,000 round trips -- had been cancelled for the three months to November.

Rival carrier All Nippon Airways (ANA) said Tuesday that 18,800 seat reservations had been cancelled on its routes between Japan and China for the three months to November.

ANA ended flat at 176 yen.